thank you so much for watching. chris tthews and "hardball" is next. romney losing hisbearings. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. let metart with this. wh we have such long campaigns for president? because it's a tryout a chance to not just kick the tires, not just to look under the hood, but to actually take the car out for a drive. over the past several weeks this country has experienced what it's like being in a car with mi romney. we've felt the swerves, the sudden shifts, the abrup stops anreeshe reckless changes of lanes, the slipping and the sliding. there's more road ahead, of course, including three debates, but we're getting a sense that this guy doesn't know exactly where he's going or even on how to drive this car.

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and the big question is, why is whys seem, dare we say it, confused? could it be because he doesn't know where he's trying to take us? because he doesn't know where he wants to go? as david axelrod said, campaigns are like an mri for the soul, whoever you are, eventually pele find out. joining now are t m whot toot resulted in a sweep of four emmys this week, game change authors john heilemann of new york magazine and mark halperin of "time." gentlemen, thank you for joining us. right now never has mitt romney's ability to shape shift more on display th yesterday. itnvdltre rm. e issue he can't decide whether to run from or embrace, so he did both in the same day. in an interview with nbc's ron allen, romney said h health care plan up in massachusetts, the one that the obama plan is modeled after, shows his compassion. les listen. hrouhi campaign as well we've talked about my record in massachusetts. don't forget, i got everybody in

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my state insured, 100% of the kids in our state have health insurance. i don't think there's anything that shows more empathy and care about the people of this country than that kind of rerd. >>llho a that, very shortly, a matter of two hours or so, romney spoke before a toledo, ohio, crowd to denounce obama's affordable care act which is based on his massachusetts plan. let'slisten. >> i will repeal obama car and place it with real health care reform. obama care is really exhibit number one of the president's political philosophy, and that is that government knows better than people how to run their lives. >> well,here you have it. i think -- i don't know what you can say. he's talking to ronal straight news reporter. this is the third episode here in a matter of hours. at a univision 230er rum last week romney admitted he'd take credit for obama care except during the primaries. >> i have experience in health care refo.

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m gfa obaheresints care. i don't think he meant that as a compliment, but i'll take it. this was during my primary. we thought it might not be helpful. >> well, there you have it, mark, and then john. speaking to a straight news report are for nbc, ron allen, tofteid in tspo massachusetts. then before a partisan crowd he takes it back and lashes out at obama care. and then before a group he assumes to be a bit more liberal, he goes back in favor of it again saying, i take that not as a compliment but i'll accept it anyway. and there you go, what is this guy? he'sike aobbl head. >> well, i've not been as dubious about the notion of you could be for a certain type of policy at the state level but not think it's a good idea for washington to do it, but when il ahe morality of oric to the universal health care, then i think it's a harder case to make, and, you know, governor romney is getting a lot of

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criticism in the press, some even on this channel. i separate the two types of iticism. the kind you're talking about comes notusro jal or pundits but almost any republican we know who is not on mitt romney's payroll will tell you that that is just not the kind of inconsistency that he can afford at thi point given the deficits he faces. >> your thoughts, john. >> well, look, chris, i just think he's in annten tie he bal along. the bottom line on mitt romney is he's proud of his massachusetts health care law. there's part of him that wants to defend it, there's part of him that's always wanted to defend it, and he found himself running in a republican primary where he couldn't defend it forth rightly as ink wt . het woha wand to e twisted himentz up in a lot of knots. i think there's some theoretical way in which you could make a federalist argument but he hasn't made that argument consistently either. he should have stood up and said the individual mandate is a consvative policy. it was inventedt the heritage fodati andmbd

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conservatives as recently as a decade ago. co-have made the argument for pla health care and said that's what the conservative position was. he didn't have the guts to do that. he's ended up in this bizarre position where he's had to pirouette on this crazy tightrope wherhe says my reut ted law which the core element of which is the individual mandate is bad. it's not intellectually tenable and it's politically ridiculous. >> here he is doing it again on the tax issue. he pushed the idea that the president raised tacks. here he trieso make theoint usg hi interpretation of the supreme court ruling on obama care. >> by the way, the president has now raised taxes on the middle class as so determined by the supreme court. >>nd then this week romney mangles his ssage by saying ama didn't raise taxes in his first term bht i ndrm >> he's got one new idea. i admit he has one thing he did not do in his first four years he said he's going to do in the

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next four years which is raise taxes. >> which is it, mark? did he or di't he or is he ilob h more ast ye charitable interpretation. >> your interpretation is the one we want. >> my sense is hwas talking about raising marginal tax rates rather than raising any taxes. >> that's charitableyou're right. >> i wl say a veronfha id be. he's not at the point where he can afford either to create distractions through loose rhetoric or to have a muddled message th doesn't give people a sense of where his heart is, as you said at the beginning. i'm just amazed that at this stage he's been a candidate for stnghat sloppy in a way that distracts from trying to drive a male message that could help him make up the gaps he has now. >> jack kennedy once dick nixon, i feel sorry for the guy because hesnnoicck nixon to be on any particular day.

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he wants the support of the tea party crowd. he needs them, john and mark, but he would never be a tea party person. he wouldn't show up at aahoo kindf politics we don't like government. he's not been a leg fon cyk, but he wants the support of the ne-yo con community out there. he wants people who are hawkish. he's not a member of the religion right. he doesn't run around liberty university or hang around with jerry falwell but he wants their support. he's not really a ryan publan intif ic pician but he put him on the ticket. isn't that the fundamental problem with the guy? he wants to date these people through the election. he wants their support, but he doesn't want to be one of them. he doesn't want to marry them. is that true? >> yes. look, chris, i think he's a person who is fundameally ill suedeiheubn nonee given what the republican party currently is. and you could say that on a bunch of different levels. it's an evangelical party and he a mormon. it's a southern and western --

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southern around western party, he's northeasterner. it's a populist par heors an establishment tearian. he wanted to say barack obama has failed as an economic steward and i'm a business guy and so i know how to create jobs. and as soon as that fell away, as soon as people started to think that the economy was doing artonkt this was about policies for the future and not just about a referendum on the past, he's found himself adrift in terms of what the message is he wants to hue to and he does feel as though this is a base election and he needs to stir up the republican base, an he doesn't he the kind of natural connection to that base that se ofis -an o lethrt some of the people he ran against and some of whom he didn't run against, have. >> is that true, mark, that the only requirement to run for the republican -- to be the republican nominee this year looked like several months back just not be obama, just be a republican, and it's gotten hebecae sow,be us tli sech in charlotte or what economic numbers slightly changing perhaps, you have to make a

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bigger case than i'm just not obama. >> well, i think that the case which they did athe republican convention in what turned out to atesou t nex mark, w tohink four years will be better for you than the first four years of an obama presidency? i think that the economy -- you can look at some macrostatistic and say things are better in some ways, but i think there are still people who have a lot of doubt about what's going to happen next. talk to anybody who is doing focus groups nowndsk pple ouwh does the president plan to do in another four years? people don't know. and so mitt romney still has an opportunity, i think, to not only say -- >> you can say the same about mitt romney. >> you could, you uld, but the president has got a record of four years that lot of 's coming close to driving that message. he's still doing one event a day. still more likely to do a bad television interview that says nothing or creates a negative story or has some old video pop

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out. this is not left wing puntsr reerwho don't like mitt romney. this is what every republican i talk to is saying, scratching their head saying how can he continue to waste another day? i'm looking at my calendar every day, when is he going to win a single news cycle? >> i would argue more posive for obama and say he'soubled emmeate from double digits down to eight. if he does that again, he'll take it down to six. if you want to say i'll take it downwo or three points further, just stay on that continu continuum. let's take a look at this. a new obama campaign ad just put out a powerful ad ag in g ateshat mn own words against him. let's listen to this. >> there are 47% of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. who are dependent upon government, who believe that they're victims, who believe that government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they're od housing, to you name it and they will vote for this president no matter what. and so my job is not to worry

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about those people. i will never convince them they shouldake personal responsibility and care for their lives. >> what you think of that ad, guys u t,k. ou, wth video first came out of governor romney talking, i wasn't sure if it would have a long shelf life, but it has a lot of resonance with voters, certainly has a l of resonance with the chattering class, and that ad is subtle, but it draws -- they clearly think it'soing to draw o the fegst t voters have and an awareness that a lot of voters have and particularly on a day when governor romney is trying to drive the message about veterans and support for the military. to feature some people from the military in that spot, this is going to be a thing they com back to again and again and'l on think governor romney has dealt with it effectively. you can't go out and assert that you care about people. you've got to do something i think that shows people in an emotional and concrete and resonant way and he's not solved that yet amongst the problems he still hato solve. yeah. your thoughts, john? whatike about itsws

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porty and working poor, the working poor phenomenon in this country where you work very hard but don't make enough to live above the pover level, is not an inner city situation alone. it creates a larger notion of another america out there that's much more diversend much more realisti ink. thts. hri agree with that. i will also say there's nothing more powerful an a negative ad that uses nothing but the words from the person who -- out of the mouth of the person who the ad is attacking. you know, you think about the way that tina y set up sarah palin on niv fourea ago by rasa thist said in an interview with katie couric. those were her words. you didn't have to write a script. in this same case the 47% thing i think is devastating. and mark talked about the people -- we talk to people all the time who are doing focus groups on the republica side istiit voters. voters think there's something that's toxic here and there's a reason why this is the third ad the obama campaign has put up on this 47% thing. they're putting up those ads because they're working and this

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ad in particular i think because it's in tt romney's von voice is just a sign of elyow tublehat ot coue c hn places where it matters. >> and, john and mark, i also think it counts when he makes references, not the biggest thing in the world but telling when he says we're not going to let people just die in their apartments, people that n't have health insurance. we'r going to pick them up and get em to the hospital. the idea that everybody who is poor lives in some urban apartment when there's people all across the area who aren't covered by health insurance today even thou they're working 40 hours a week. these are little things that just inject a certain narrow view of what the problem ithat anuk a john.all. coming up, how do you spot a campaign in trouble? when you hear reporters -- actually supporters say it's still eay or you should see our internal polling. well, you can bet in those cases the candidate is probably headed for defeat. ght now the gop is trotting out the gradaddy of l se the polls are wrong.

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all of them. we're going to talk about the self-dell luths of republicans popping up right now. also breaking up is hard to do. the republican party broke up with missouri's todd akin after his legitimate rapeen but still within striking distance of claire mccaskill. the gop may have decided it's better to live with the author of legitimate rape than to have the democrats retain control of the senate. and which republican would demoats mostike to pick off in november? here are a elch,oe walsh, allen west. with polls moving their way, democrats are daring to dream of delivering them from evil. finally, let me finish tonight with my favorite teachers wife and how much she wants to vote and how the new pennsylvania voter photo law is stopping her from ng i "ball the place for politics. to meet the needs of my growing business. but how am i going to fund it? and i have to find a way to manage my cash flow better. [ female announcer ] our wells fargo bankers are here to listen,

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offer guidance and provide you with options taored to your business. w lned re my mbes than any other bank for ten years running. so come talk to us to see how we can help. wells fargo. together we'll go far. wells fargo. i didn't think it was anything.. ust woul't gaway. i didn'ti was spotting,nything.. but i had already gone through menopause. these symptoms may be nothing... but theyould be early warning signs of a gynecologic cancer, such as cervical, ovarian, or uterine cancer. feeling bloated for no reason. that's what i remember. seeing my doctor probably d my life. rning signe t thme fvee. if you think something's wrong... see your doctor. ask about gynecologic cancer. and get the inside knowledge. the presidential race is being fought in a handful of

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states. check the top advertising markets where the campaigns are spending the most dollars on tv ads. at number five, starting from bottom, right here in washington, d.c., which reaches the critical northern subur o mbou i tampa, florida, and st. pete. number three, cleveland. number two is orlando, also in florida. the top market this week for ads in the presidential campaign, madison, wisconsin, one of the great places in the 1960s to in. we'll beight back. ♪ [ male announcer ] introducing a stunning work of technology. inuc the entirely new lexus es. and the first-ever es hybrid. this is the pursuit of perection. governor of getting it done. you know how to dance...

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back to "hardball." what do you do when your candidate is trailing in the polls? well, you blame the pollsters. over the past severalays right wing radio and television pundits haveon wil with the ne rlin tng thought, the polls are wrong. pay no attention to what you're seeing or what you're hearing, that obama is up. according to some on fox and elsewhere, the pollsters are all in the president aes back pocket and they can't be trusted, including fox's polls apparently

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dick mars staggering even sean hannity on fox news this week. >> as he's at the moment in a very strong position. i believe if the election were held today, romney would win by four or five points. i believe he wldarry flora, ohio, viinia i ev hul c nevada. i believe he would carry pennsylvania. >> oh, come on. >> pennsylvania, and i believe he would be competitive in michigan. people need to understand that the polling this year is the worst it's ever been because this is the first election where i tell you w is going to vote, i can tell you how they're going to vote. the models these folks are using are vazy. they assume a democratic edge of six or seven points. >> we're all wrong in in business, we make mistakes. he's the only guy i know who isffck morris.ng whe hay in the eyes of republicans, it's that the polls are conspiring to bring him down. michael, special correspondent for "newsweek" and ron reagan is

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oon msnbc political analyst and author of "my father at 100." ron, y have to srt wh yo u' a spathicoihe om to common sense, and why would anybody ever, ever, ever no mat mother pays them ever listen to what dick morris has to say about anything, especially when he says all the polls, including fox's own polls, areot to be trusted because he doesn'tike the mber hdoesn't le w the s this week. >> it's true that you sometimes imagine that back in the republican green room there's this giant crack pipe that they're all hitting on constantly, hitng it hard, is tim to't bogart -- that, morris, because i think he's been on that pipe longer than most. just a thought. >> he bought the pipe i think and brought it into the room. but let's not give them too much credit her i mean, yes, it's true -- >> i'm not -- >> -- the rank and file -- no, no. e r aile actually believes some of this nonsense.

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they believe that evolution didn't happen, global warm something a hoax obama is a kenyan, but people like dick morris and sean hannity, they know better than that, and there'a method to their eynolualey're dishonest. they're not crazy, they're craven. >> i hate to say it, ron, but i believe that sean hannity is as smart as me or anybody else but he says stuff on the air that throws red meat out for that ane believing this stuff. >> very briefly, what they're trying to do here and accomplish here is to say in advance if president obama wins this election, it's because the pollsters suppressed the republican vote, it's, therefore, an illegitimate election, he's not really president. they're setting the tae for . t to mike tomaski. you're nonpartisan. i don't know what your politics are. it seems to me they could say something else. they could say this week we're behind two or three, within the margin of error but these d

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bates are going to be imrtant. there's a lot different ways d them. nrsn >> but denial is what they do, and work up their base is what they do, chris. that's how -- they define their movement in large part by their enemies. >> so the couple on the cage here? >> they are but i'm not entirely suhatni doesn't believe some of this stuff himself. you know -- >> you have a low estimate of his iq. i have a higher estimate. your thoughts, but go ahea >> look, pollsters aren't going to stack the deck on who is -- what there complaining about is the sampli, many mos in tolnd how many republicans are in this poll and it is true, they have one little smidgeon of a point. it is true a lot of these polls have been showing more democrats than republicans, but this is the misunderstanding or the -- >> more democrats than republicans exist or what? >> pollsters askeoe to take bsn't the latest polling showing there is lower republican id. in the last six

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months? there's a reduction in the number of people who say i'm a republican? >> that's what it's showing. these conservatives are trying to say it's intentiona a setup by "the new york tes" and all these other polls, 's nonsense. >> where is this meeting supposed to happen where all the pollsters get together? don't they compete with each other to prove they're right? this is something, ron, that's very important. poll something like rating serves, like we are all goved he by. theyetaid tig thdy sponsors at local tv affiliates like abc in boston or whatever, any local station down here, right? wrc down here, they pay pollsters to be ght. why would you have pollsters who were being paid by somebody to be wrong? they have clients. >> it's a myery, wo knhame polling outfits tend to favor republicans and some tend to favor democrats. rasmussen, for instance, which is a polling outfit th typic typically has romney with higher numbers than y ppp or some of e others -- >> that's why we call it t

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outlr. t 'she h republicans cite all the time. they say the rasmussen poll has us dead even and the other half a dozen or dozen polls, they don't count. >> we're going underwater. now to your point, rush limbaugh warned this week thatollsrs aronin co the voice. conspireing to suppress republican voters. let's hear his indignation. here is the underwater wall russ himself, rush limbaugh. >> they are designed to do exactly what i have warned you to beil a and that is to depress you and suppress your vote. these two polls today are designed to convince everybody that election is over. >> there could be a lot of reasons for this, voter suppression, voter depression set uphe pbial gations of voter fraud. >> speaking of depression, where did you get that shirt?

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it looks like the devil's idea of an nfl ref's uniform. mike tomaskey, why is he doing this. the pollsters are getting you, but i'm for you. >> it's all about the enemies. it starts with the liberal media. ll now it extend to pollsters. the pollsters are supposedly rigging these things. in fact, what the voter i.d. in those polls is showing, it's showing that the republican party, that fewer and fewer people who are being called by these polls want to call themselves -- >>hat happenedheren mont tkeheott? what's real? i think it's the republican house -- >> a bad candidate, the republican house, a party that's gone way off into the right, into la la land, and a bad convention versus a good democratic convention and this video. >> middle of the road and sligly cservivople u win the suburbs

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around philadelphia and chicago and new york, they have seen that party flipping over to the crazy side. thank you, michael, and i think the president has been good at positioning himself much closer to the center than they'd like, the other party. ron reagan, you're great. i love your sense of humor. you're grt. >> thanks. >> tt'shyd it le you're great. in your case it's true. up next, george w. bush turns up in an embarrassing place for mitt romney. wait until you catch this. find out where he's speaking like right before the election day, georgw., just to bring ho d ths db" pl for politics. [ horse neighs ]

come back from all sides. first, to the late nht scene and some revamped campaign ads for romney. here is david lterman on the >> mitt romney released his 2011 tax returns, and that's not all. take a look. >> last week republican presidential candidate mitt romney released his 2011 income taxes and after numers requests mt haalso dec rseax forms from the last 20 years. >> there you go. >> i'm mitch romney, and i approve this message. >> jimmy kim 'em took on romney's attempt to convince voters he can empathize with struggling americans in the aftermath of those comnts % o aca he said don't even take care for their lives. >> too many americans are struggling to find wor in today's economy. too many of those who are working are living paycheck to paycheck. more americans are living in poverty than when psi

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a f, and 15 million more are on food stamps. my plan will create 12 million new jobs over the next four years. we shouldn't measure compassion by how many people are on welfare. we should measure compassion by how many people are able to get f wrend gd paying job. i'm mitt romney, and i approve this message. >> lobster. anyway, now shifting to jobs. how did president obama turn a slip of the tongue regarding his jobs plan into a knock at his opponent? wellhere he is in ohio sterda l me repeat the plan that i have put forward, practical, specific five-point plan to grow our middle ass, create strong jobs. first thing is i want to see us export more jobs -- export more oduc. se i was channeling my opponent there for a second.

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>> well, that was a quick save. anyway, the obama campaign has continually argued that bain capital, which romy ran a esin cni t moved jobs overseas. finally, romney's offshore investments in places like the cayman islands and his campaign's tendency to sweep the presidency of george w. bush under the rug. our last republican president no ian'telieaat tubcanengs and mentions of his stint in office has been absent. talk about a perfect storm. where will "w" be five days before the election. you won't believe this, headlining an altnative investment event in thyman islaslo with sir rich branson. the cayman alternative investment summit is a hub for business people and investors to discuss and promote offshore investments, a place where democrats will point out romney a right at home. bush is the keynote speaker o the ent'firsgh noerst what a favor "w" is doing romney

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here. up next, the republican party bailed on missouri's todd akin after his elect mat rape comments. with akin hanging tough against claire mccaskill, the republican may be willingoifeh akin if it helps them win control of the senate. apparently that's what's going on. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics. helping millions of americans retire on their terms. when ty want. where they nt. dong whathan ameriprise. the strength of a leader in retirement planning. the heart of 10,000 advisors working with you one-to-one. together for your future. ♪

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your cnbc market wrap. the dow gained 72 points, the s&p rises 14, and the nasdaq adds 43 points. google shares continue their march upward hitting another all-time high. one firm raised its price target on the sto t86 a share. as for the economy, jobless claims fell by 26,000 to

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359,000, the lowest level in two months. however, orders for long-lasting durable goods plummeted 13.2%, the most in 3 1/2 years. at'stmbc first in business worldwide. now back to "hardball." welcome back to "hardball." remember last month after todd akin made this comment? >> it seems to me, first of all, from what i understand from i legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. >> they ied to shut him down. republicans from mitt romney and paul ryan to sarah palin, sean hannity, and rush limbaugh all urged akin to get out of the

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race after heaiat karl rove's american crossroads super pac pulled their money from him and while talking to donors, rove made this, his think being what akin was doing to the party crystal clear. he said we should sink todd akin. if he's und mysteriously mueron'took r m whereabouts. that's karl. the national republican senate committee also pulled funds from akin's race. its chairman, john corn of texas, said last weekd just last week, he had a simple answer on their involvement with akin going forward. he told "the hill" newspaper, quote, we're don w.ll, that was then,his denen to remove himself from the ballot has passed, and slowly republicans are rejoining the akin bandwagon, if you can call it that. the national republican senate committee, for example, said yesterday, as with every republican senate candidate,e hope todd akin wins inve, and we will continue to monitor his race as low asly in the days ahead. so have republicans decided akin isn't as bad as they once

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thought? bob shrum is a democratic strategist, john furry is a republican strategist. gentlemen, i have to give a little bit of help there to fury ca t mar test yet. but let's go to you, shrum, because i like the way you punch. aiken ain't any better now, is he, than he was right after he said that, politically speaking. your thoughts. >> and he's done more. the republicans were in the midair phase of this flip-flop to say they were going to reidhee cricized and attacked claire mckag kill for nom being ladylike. they're reconsidering for several reasons. romney is fading. their prospectsf ceiliree contr the sena are fading. th thewereet lot of pressure from the tea party folks, from people like jim demint, from newt gingrich, rick santorum, as if those guys hadn't done enough for the republican party already this yeary forcing romney way to the right. but this is a really hard aclly rubns t ically and make.

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first, it's going to cost a lot of money if they go back in. they canceled all the air time. to buy the spots now would cost five or six times more than the money that they already had there in the first place. secondly, it's not politically good for the republican party or r mine for their senate and house candidates to be associated in any way with this guy. they already have a huge gender gap. look, he didn't op out. the voters are going to drop him in november and maybe fury will tell me he disseptembers from this, and i'm sure he does, but privately a lot of repubns ll t g't win. >> the news here today, you referred to how he referred to this -- this is todd akin -- how he referred to his democratic opponent, the incumbent senator claire mccaskill. let's look at this, whateai today and why it may be a problem for him. he said, quote, she, and that was his opponent, was very aggressive at the debate this past we, which was quite different than it was when she ran against jim talent.

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she had a confidence and was much more ladylike back then. but in the debate on friday she came outwig. hihaec she feelings threatened. i don't know. sometimes i wonder whether we're too tough, but, you know, this idea that women hav to hit their golf ball from the ladies tee politically, that somehow they have to be ladyli in a tougbrawl of a campaign, do yothink that sti a ne to lkrppropriate way to talk to your opponent politically if they're a female that they have to be ladylike? does anybody say you have to be a gentleman in politics these days? i'm just asking, john fury. is this okay? go ahead. >> it would be nice if we were all gelemeand if they were ladies and a the whole nine yards, but ladies punch just as hard as men in politics. >> shouldn't they? >> of course they should. that's the game. at the end of the day, the reason we're talking about this race is claire mccaskill is still in a pretty weakition. nnbuthkkin has a the eet very good shot at winning otherwise we wouldn't care this

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much. to defend the nrsc, they want to put in the best candidate they could, and it was not akin at e time. they wished they would have got him out thereof and had someone else in, but now theve got him, they've got to sti wh hind s h relatively decent shot of winning because claire mccaskill is sll very weak. >> well, let's check on that. let's take a look at the ad they put together. this is an ad that the american bridge, the democratic group, has put out against him. i think it displays the ft this guy's problems gol tednha o re women are n t and things like that. this goes over the whole issues of this guy's vulnerability. i want bob to jump on it and then you respond. let's listen to this ad. >> social security through the years for many,any people has been a terrie investment. 'slls all it is. social security is a tax. >> are you saying for younger people there will beome privatization of it or not? >> well, if it were up to me, yes, i think that that's a good idea. this bill is called the hate crimes bill this bill ireases hatred i

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america. if a foreign power had done to america what the department of education had done, it would be considered an act of war. the minimum wage can be destructive 37. >> do you know what th minimum wage is? my guess is it's somewhere in the x or seven. >> ifouantotr j whouou do? just playing like you are the devil, and we have one pretty close to that. and yet we have terrorists in our own culture called abortionists. i n't really believe in the whole theory of global warming. >> well, quite an aay tpick from tits terrorists. social security should be privatized. hate crimes lead to hate. it's a long list to suggest that this guy is not what i would ca a mainstream conservative republican. >> fornce i want to second what feehery said. they wted a different candidate. thupedifnt te candidate. after he made the comments about legitimate rape, a lot of people, as you said, romney,

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ryan, cornyn, the whole republican establishment said we don't want to supporthis guy, he should drop out. he can dp u em25. september 259 passed, things have not been going well for the gop, and so you have some people saying we have to double down and we have to help thisguy. look, does he have some chance to win? yeah, i think it's very small. i think in e end wn people see all of is stuffnds juheap stuff but they're going to sow all of this stuff and how extreme he is, he's going to have a very, very hard time. i also think, by the way, nobody is talking about this, the polls on the presidential race have narrowed subantially in missouri. i think that's todd akin's gift to the romney campaign. >>ui, jo ho justify calling abortion an act of terrorism where it's the woman normally who makes the call to get the procedure done? i mean, whatever you think, we'll argue about this the rest of our lives, but to call i terrorism, how do you justify it? bo call it terrorism ie -

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if -- >> i don't use those terms but i'm pro-life. getting back to todd akin, you know, he's still got a shot. i think that claire mccaskill is a weak candidate. he's not our best candate. i wish we had a better candidate a lot these k gs w ortodd akin and missouri is still a conservative state, and i do think he's got a 49% to 49.5% chance of winning this. >> do you think he should be in the u.s. senate. >> for the people of missouri to decide. >> no, do youhink he should be in the u.s. sete? >>ouav v f someone else in a primary. >> sarah steelman i guess, probably. nice dodge by the way. john feehery dodges the ball. and shoul bob shrum. which tea p cda d crats most like to beat, michelle bachmann, joe walsh, allen west? they have new reasons to be hopeful. the democrats might knock a couple of them off.

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we've got two new polls in that voter i.d. law in pennsylvania. the people in the keystone state say they like it, a majority do. 62% of pennsylvanians support e law. % oppos it. same story in a new franklin and marshall poll. 59% say they support it, 39% against it. but the law may be blocked as taking effect as a stateudge determines who it could disinen

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♪ something to me ♪ that nobody else could do we're back. most of the attention this campaign, it seems, is focused the presidencyut demrats are beginninging to dream, what if, what if they can kick off some of the tea party men and women since the tea party revolution of 2010? miche bachmann, joe walsh, steve king, allen west. decrats think, wldn't it be

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lovely? nia-malika henderson, a reporter for "the washington post," stand by. we created here on handball, we're going to show you how we this and tell me how you're going to look at this person and defeat her. >> how many people in the congress of the united states are anti-american? you've already suspected barack obama. is he alone or are there others? how many do you suspect as bei unamican >>t uld sayha the news media should do a penetrating expose. i wish she would. i wish the american media would take a great look at the view of e people in congress and find out if they are pro america or anti-america. i thinkplulvesee an expo say like that. >> mr. graves, i hate to say that i have not conducted a joe mccarthy probe here of the loyalty of the democrac members of congress. what do you make of having an owe point nent like th >> all started on your

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channel and on your show. she keeps going. she's a gift that keeps going. she's actually come after me. she kes to tread on fear and separation. that's herhole mtra. ani thk it gng. etaklotr. joe walsh in illinois and find out how he's going after tammy duckworth. >> i understand something about john mccain. his picaldvisers day after day had to take him and almost throw against the wall and hit him against the head and say, senator, you have to let people knowou serve. you have to talk about whatou did. w running against a woman who, my god, that's all she talks about. our true heroes, the men and women who served us, it's the last thing in the world that

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they talk about. >> you know, i don't even get it. i've never sh d taste in my life. this woman lost her legs in combat, nia, and to mock her coming up in thecampaign, i don't know what the new rules are. >> that's right. this is one of the rsonse's so bd polls and puane edth hel probably lose this race. he has gotten a bit of a lifeline thrown to him by the congressional committee. they put about $450,000 into this race and he'll be able to run some ads until election day. duckworth has ads out now a the fact that she'llo waington and fight for her constituents there in that district. but you're right, there are a lot of these below the belt comments and i think tea party folks have made that are now coming back to bite them. i think they've done well for themselves in terms of filling chbann aut $10 ofres.

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million in the bank. now they are having to run against the very words. >> back to you, jim. what happened to walter mondal ansoeplow they get so far right to think that michele bachmann is the voice of sanity? >> i think she treds on her base,ets a lot of advertising out there. the people of minnesota understand that she's not representinghend that she does not speak the truth. it's coming around to roost. she's going to lose this election because she can't come up with anything that makes any sense to the people. she doesn't resonate with the folks. it's getting old. she ran for president. she did 15 debes. she wanted to do one with me after the elecon. e's raidf th ut i nnin and i think it's catching up with her, chris. >> jim graves running against michele bachmann. nia-malika henderson,hank

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. eis tonight with the real life consequence of this bad photo law in pennsylvania. my high school english teacher has been caring for his wife these receyear. she ca longer drive car

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therefore has no driver's license and unable to travel has no passport but she is still alert and she keeps up with the news. he holds the newspapers up for her to read and she's very eager to vote this year and therein es ts newprobm, the pesylv l pd through the republicans requiring them to get an absentee ballot which you need to produce a government-issued i.d. he would have t take his wife to the-d.o. headquarters to get the i.d. that the new law requires. we have no idea if this is the kind of person that they were trying to keep out from voting but we kw the predick ka meant it made for hhe legislature to deliver the commonwealth electoral votes to romney. i would think this is a good idea why justice requires fast